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There are three areas of economic interest (see Attachment A) which staff used to develop <br /> estimates of future demand, the Buckhorn-Mebane area (western Orange), Hillsborough area <br /> (central Orange) and Eno area (eastern Orange). These areas already have or will have water <br /> supplied by the City of Mebane, Town of Hillsborough, and City of Durham, respectively. The <br /> water from Jordan Lake can be accessed via Durham's interconnect with the Town of Cary. <br /> The water would then be used to augment the Durham supply or sent to Hillsborough via the <br /> interconnect shared between Durham and Hillsborough. <br /> The Buckhorn-Mebane area is supplied by the City of Mebane as the area does not have a <br /> viable method to access an allocation from Jordan Lake. The City of Mebane has access to a <br /> robust supply of water from the reservoir it shares with the City of Graham. In addition, Mebane <br /> has interconnections that allow access to the City of Burlington's water system, which has a <br /> robust water supply in its own right. The water demand from the Buckhorn-Mebane area is <br /> expected to be met from Mebane's water supplies, without the need to supplement with Jordan <br /> Lake water. <br /> Orange County currently holds a Level II allocation. This means the water is not expected to be <br /> needed within the first five years of the thirty year demand projection. Typically, Level II <br /> allocations account for the projected need during the last 10-15 years of the thirty year water <br /> supply plan. The submitted allocation application requests an additional 0.5 MGD Level II <br /> allocation. The draft application also provides validation and peer-reviewed justification for the <br /> 1.0 MGD, Level II allocation the County currently holds. <br /> The draft application was submitted to the State Division of Water Resources on May 1, 2014. <br /> County staff had been working with the Jordan Lake Partnership (JLP), a group of <br /> representatives from several municipalities located near Jordan Lake, and the Triangle J <br /> Council of Governments to develop a cohesive plan which showed all projected water <br /> demands for the various entities and how these would be met using current water supplies and <br /> interconnections, Jordan Lake allocations, conservation and reuse, along with other future <br /> water supplies. The work done to develop a regionally coherent water supply plan which <br /> demonstrates how all JLP members will be able to meet water demands through the year 2060 <br /> developed into the Triangle Regional Water Supply Plan (Plan). <br /> The Plan is a clear demonstration that all of the individual partner requests for Jordan Lake <br /> allocations in the current round were arrived at through careful consideration of all members. In <br /> other words, the Plan gives regional context to each municipality's Jordan Lake request. The <br /> County's application for a Jordan Lake allocation is one piece of a regional "preferred solution" <br /> developed by the JLP to meet future water demands. <br /> County staff has received comments back from the Division of Water Resources regarding the <br /> County's draft allocation application. These comments will need to be incorporated into the <br /> application document and submitted as a final application by close of business on November <br /> 14, 2014. According to the Division of Water Resources project schedule, the applications will <br /> be forwarded to the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) and will be under review <br /> for approximately one year. The EMC is expected to approve or disapprove the allocation <br /> requests by November 2015. <br /> Craig Benedict said there are existing draws from Jordan Lake, but the state indicated <br /> that there was a planned expansion, and partners were encouraged to ask for their share of <br />